In the new ABC office comedy Better Off Ted, premiering Wed., March 18, at 8:30 p.m., a big, greedy corporation is the show's main villain. And as nightly news programs offer continuous reports on bank bailouts, ponzi schemes and golden parachutes, creator Victor Fresco couldn't have asked for better timing.
Like Ted, comedy fans may recall that Fresco also created the 2002 single-cam sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe for Fox. In 2005, he went back to multicam comedy, creating the Fox sitcom Life on a Stick. More recently, he has worked as a consulting producer on NBC's My Name Is Earl.
In an exclusive video report, Mediaweek correspondent Alan Frutkin talks to Fresco about the origins of Ted, the lessons learned from Richter and the future of single-camera comedy.